12 Years to Fix Climate Change

Climate change and increasing global temperatures is a massive problem that is no longer the next generation's problem to fix. It is THIS generation's problem that must be fixed, otherwise the world will suffer greatly. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change just released an exhaustive report on the state of climate change and the future of this planet. The report is alarming. Very alarming! We have 12 years to fix climate change and get temperatures and greenhouse gas emissions under control.

What is meant by "under control"? The report defines "under control" as reducing global greenhouse gas emissions by 45% from 2010 levels by 2030. This would be a massive undertaking and a huge decrease in a short period of time. Why this amount and date? Doing so will put us on the path of limiting global temperature increases to 1.5 degrees Celsius. We've already warmed the planet by a full degree Celsius. An increase of 1.5 degrees Celsius will still cause world wide problems (hunger, thirst, greater weather related natural disasters) and mass extinctions, but the effect will be much, much greater with a full 2 degrees Celsius. But to limit the increase to 1.5 degrees requires a drastic reduction in greenhouse emissions NOW!

The U.S. government's response? To question the political motivations of the IPCC. Sigh. In other words, get ready for nothing to be done and the world to suffer greatly in our lifetimes. Not five decades from now but one, ONE, decade from now. Climate change is not a political issue. It is a human issue and denying it is to deny reality and welcome the suffering of millions each year living near coastlines or regions of increasing drought. Climate change is already killing people and denying it and doing nothing is a death sentence for millions.

For the full report, click the link below.

IPCC Report - 2018

The Flash (TV Series)

I'm a huge fan of comic book themed TV series and many TV shows had their season premiere in the last month. One of my favorites is The Flash, now in its fifth season on the CW.

The Flash TV Series

The Flash, otherwise known as Barry Allen, has the ability to run VERY FAST and also has other skills as a result of being able to run very fast. One doesn't watch these shows for correct science, but if you love science fiction, The Flash has a ton of it! Barry uses his super speed to defeat foe after foe, but at times makes mistakes by traveling back in time and changing the timeline, resulting in negative consequences. The Flash also has multiple universes!

An example of bad science? There was an episode of Barry wanting to feel the 'buzzed' effects of alcohol, but he couldn't because his body's metabolism used up the alcohol too quickly before he could feel buzzed. If I remember correctly, they made him a very potent drink, leaving him buzzed...for about 3 seconds. LOL! I guess this sort of makes sense, but the question I asked myself was how he's able to eat and not feel hungry constantly. If your body's metabolism is so fast that the alcohol is removed so quickly, what about food and calories? In the show Barry isn't eating constantly. He remains skinny and fit, but if he's not eating, but his metabolism is too high, he'll quickly lose weight and have ill health effects. But he doesn't. Oh well. The Flash wouldn't last long if he died of starvation in the first episode!

The Flash is a great show with a high level of science fiction. If you enjoy comics and science fiction, check out The Flash. Do it quick before The Flash runs by! LOL! Bad joke? :-) My kids don't always watch the same shows I watch, but they enjoy comic book shows too. My youngest daughter LOVES the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!

Why do Stars Twinkle?

We've all heard the song "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star". Stars do appear to twinkle, but why? First, what do we mean by twinkle? If you look at a star on a clear night for a few moments, you'll notice the light seems to move or waver just a bit. This is what is meant by twinkling.

Credit:ESA/Hubble & NASA

Stars are at great distances, with the closest star located just over 4 light years from our Solar System. Thus to our eyes the light from a star appears to come from a single point. As that light travels through our atmosphere, turbulence (movement of air) causes the light to change in brightness and intensity just a bit. This results in twinkling. This is not a real effect of the star, but a result of the atmosphere we need in order to survive. On some nights, if there is greater turbulence, twinkling will be greater. On other nights, the twinkling will be less, but it is still there. There's no way to remove turbulence in the atmosphere. The only way to stop star twinkling is to remove the atmosphere and that, well, isn't the greatest of ideas for what I hope is an obvious reason!!!

But why do planets not twinkle? I'll save the answer for that in a future post.

This Blog's History: Greatest Science Books of All-Time

For This Friday in This Blog's History I point you back to the post I wrote on the Greatest Science Books. If you have some time and need a book to read, here are a few suggestions (click the link to go to the original post).

Greatest Science Books of All-Time

The Forbidden Treasure of Miftenmaid

In addition to some good renaissance fair food that included turkey legs, massive pork tenderloins, and old-fashioned root beer, I picked up a dice game sold by one of the vendors at the Indiana Renaissance Fair we went to a couple of weekends ago. The game is called "The Forbidden Treasure of Miftenmaid" and is described as a mix between Yahtzee and Dungeons & Dragons.

The Forbidden Treasure of Miftenmaid

The goal of the game is to successfully pick 10 locks by rolling specific dice combinations. For example, for the first lock, you have three tries to roll all even numbers on the dice. If you fail, you get a second chance, but if you fail again, you lose hit points. The person with the must hit points left at the end wins. Along the way you can earn skills to help in your dice rolls and you can earn health back. If you lose all health points, your character dies and you are out of the game.

You start with 35 hit points, can earn up to 8 more with a special dice roll, and earn 5 more if you finish all 10 locks first. Apparently I got very lucky in our first game because I ended the game with 47 hit points, just 1 short of the maximum of 48 you can have. 

For $20, this is a pretty fun game that is easy to learn and involves strategy of selecting the right dice to re-roll. My kids had a blast playing it and we've played it several times in just the few weeks we've had the game. 

Renaissance fairs. Jousting, good food, and cool board games to purchase!

Indiana Renaissance Fair

A couple of weekends ago we had a free day so we took a family trip to the Indiana Renaissance Fair. This renaissance fair is relatively small compared to some others in the country. For example, Minnesota has a huge renaissance fair that lasts several weeks each year. Indiana's was just a two day affair, but it was very enjoyable. We arrived just in time for jousting!

Jousting!!!

The jousting was super cool and we all enjoyed it. We saw several shows, including one in which someone swallowed a sword and swallowed fire. Again, cool! We had some old-fashioned root beer and enjoyed walking around and checking out the booths. One of the more interesting aspects of a renaissance fair is watching all of the people dressed up for the event in traditional (or what we think is traditional) renaissance clothing. Next year I think I need to dress up as a wizard and carry around a staff! LOL!

Renaissance fairs are often held in the fall, so check for one in your area. They are a great way to kill some time on a weekend, assuming you have time! :-) There's a list, although not complete, of renaissance fairs across the world, on Wikipedia.

Renaissance Fairs

Mars InSight Mission

NASA is doing cool things all the time and each new mission seems to top the last mission. In fact, there are so many missions going on at any given time that it's easy to forget what's going on. This is particularly true with Mars where there are multiple on-going missions. I admit to completely forgetting about the InSight mission.

What is InSight? According to NASA's website on the mission:

"InSight, short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, is a Mars lander designed to give the Red Planet its first thorough checkup since it formed 4.5 billion years ago. It is the first outer space robotic explorer to study in-depth the "inner space" of Mars: its crust, mantle, and core."

Okay, so that's super cool! This is not one of the rovers that move around on the surface, but a lander that remains stationary where it sets down. The mission actually launched earlier this year on May 5, 2018 and is scheduled for touch-down on the Martian surface on November 26, 2018. That's only a bit more than a month away! While we wait for the first set of data from this mission to arrive, take a few moments to watch the video of the launch. Satellite and shuttle launches always amaze me! 

InSight Mission to Mars Launch

You look at all the problems in the world and it seems impossible this world will ever be a better place, but then you take a look at how we put people into space and continue to send spacecraft into the outer Solar System. This is a huge achievement! Each and every launch is an amazing thing and gives me a little bit of hope we'll be able to use this same type of team-work to handle the world's other problems. 

Cool Science Demonstrations for Kids

If you are a long time reader of this blog, you've probably noticed the number of science demonstration posts has decreased over the last couple of years. As my kids have grown older they've become busy with school sports, music, and other activities, so there's less time spent at home killing time doing science demonstrations. Don't worry though, science is still a huge part of their lives, from science TV shows, to science books, to science and exploration they now do on their own without me. Kids grow fast but if you introduce science to them early, it will stick with them forever.

If you are in need of science demonstration activities to do with your kids, here's a great website with 50 science activities, many of which I've done with my kids.

50 Easy Science Experiments for Kids Using Household Stuff 

I love the first sentence of this article.

"Kids are born scientists."

Yes, they definitely are. Kids who don't like science have had the science trained out of them which is a sad, sad thing that happens to far too many kids. Kids are explorers from the moment they are born and will continue to explore as long as parents and society do not interfere. If you are a parent out there, don't interfere! Instead, encourage exploration and help immerse your kids in science every day! Let them ask questions. Answer their questions. Look up answers together if you don't know! That's science in action.

This Blog's History: Burning a Dollar Bill

For This Friday in This Blog's History, I point you back to a very cool science experiment I did with my kids a couple of years ago. In the experiment we burned a dollar bill without actually burning it. Flames, but no destruction of the dollar bill. :-)

Click the link below to see the video we made.

Burning (or not) a Dollar Bill

Films Astronomy Students Should Watch

I've watched a lot of space based, astronomy themed movies in my lifetime, but there are a whole bunch I have not seen. While looking for new astronomy themed movies in 2018, I came across this article.

Top 5 Films Every Astronomy Student Should Watch

I was intrigued. I was an astronomy student once and the way I look at it, once an astronomy student, always an astronomy student because I'm always learning new things. The article lists 5 movies every astronomy student should watch. These movies are:

1. Interstellar
2. 2001: A Space Odyssey
3. Gravity
4. The Martian
5. Apollo 13

Given how many movies I have not seen, I was surprised there's a list out there in which I've watched all of the movies! I agree with the last four. I enjoyed all four and I think they are all movies an astronomy enthusiast should watch. The first, Interstellar? Meh. I didn't like the movie and in my opinion it is one that can be skipped. But to each his/her own. Some really liked Interstellar, but not me. I'd replace Interstellar with Contact. Contact is an excellent movie! The book, by Carl Sagan, is even better!

New Possible Dwarf Planet Discovered

Growing up as a kid, all of the astronomy books for kids talked about the 9 planets and the search for Planet X. Pluto was still a planet at the time, but there were ZERO other known planets. Fast forward to today and Pluto is no longer a planet and there are now, as of October 2018, 3,851 known planets, with all but 8 outside our Solar System orbiting other stars. Wow! But that doesn't mean we aren't finding new things in our Solar System. There's a search for a possible distant planet in our Solar System, and although it has not been found yet, other things are being found. For example, astronomers just discovered a new possible dwarf planet, nicknamed "The Goblin", orbiting the Sun, with an elliptical orbit taking it as far out as 2300 A.U. Wow!

Orbit of "The Goblin". Image: Roberto Molar Candanosa and Scott Sheppard, courtesy of Carnegie Institution for Science.

Right now there are only 5 dwarf planets officially recognized by the International Astronomical Union, but there are upwards of another 200 possibilities. "The Goblin" just adds to that list.

Astronomy was exiting when I was a kid and it's still exciting today. The discoveries are different, but that just adds to the excitement. Had you told me as a kid that 30 years later we'd know of nearly 4000 planets and potentially hundreds of dwarf planets, I'd probably say you were crazy. All the talk at the time was for the elusive Planet X in our Solar System. We haven't found another Solar System planet yet, but there is strong evidence, based on orbits of dwarf planets, that a large planet exists in the outer reaches of the Solar System. In my opinion it's just a matter of time before we officially discover it.

Fantasy/Science Fiction Reading Guide

I'm always on the lookout for new authors and books to check out in the fantasy and science fiction genre. There are so many books in this genre and so many good books that it's hard to figure out where to start (if you are new to the genre) or where to continue onto next (for those veterans in this genre). I came across this great website that breaks down the genre into many sub-genres, each with a list of books to check out.

So You Want to Read… A Guide to Sci-Fi and Fantasy Subgenres

Wow! A great resource! Although for me I'm still not sure where to go next as I want to read them all! That's the power of books! Every book is a gateway to a new world of adventure and excitement!

What is the Universe?

I love my daily "Facts From Space" calendar I keep in my office. Every day provides a new space based fact. Occasionally, as you saw from a post on this blog last week, the facts are a bit misleading or don't fully dig into the truth. But for the most part they are very good. Last month, the following space fact came up.

An interesting question and right now one we don't have to worry about too much, but could be a bigger question in the future as technology improves and we learn more about the cosmos. The calendar fact, however, ignores what is a more likely solution. Just change the definition of 'universe'. There's certainly precedent for this. Astronomers changed the definition of 'planet' in 2006 to account for the new discovery of several Pluto-like objects. The former planet Pluto no longer qualified as a planet under the new planet criteria and was moved to the newly created category of 'dwarf planet'. 

As we learn more about the Universe and potentially other universes, maybe we change the definition of universe. Maybe there's a universe and then there are dwarf universes? Not sure how that would work, but the point is definitions change with new data. The definition of 'planet' is a perfect example. Science continues to fill in the gaps and answer questions, and as a result, old definitions are no longer appropriate. 

This Blog's History: National Youth Science Camp

For This Friday in This Blog's History, I point you back to a post I wrote on the National Youth Science Camp. This is a great summer camp for just graduated high school seniors soon entering college that have a great interest in science and science research. If this fits you or someone you know, please read the original post, linked below, and share. Only two students from each state are selected each year, so it's tough competition, but a great opportunity!

National Youth Science Camp

Climate Change Denial Myth #7: Is Increased CO2 a Good Thing?

There are many, many misconceptions and myths climate change denialist use to deny the reality of climate change and increasing global temperatures. Some denialists are in out right denial it is happening. Others twist the truth to push an agenda, and others try to come across as knowledgeable by trying to use science in their arguments. Today's myth fits into the latter category. Denialists using this myth acknowledge climate change is occurring and acknowledge greenhouse gasses such as carbon dioxide are increasing in the atmosphere. And it is definitely true greenhouse gasses are increasing.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Carbon_Dioxide_400kyr.png

The data is very clear, as shown above, that CO2 levels are increasing in the atmosphere and increasing fast. Unfortunately the denialists who accept increasing CO2 will often argue it away by saying that CO2 is good for the planet. They will point to studies showing increased CO2 increases plant growth activity which is an overall good for the planet. Yes, there are studies showing increased plant growth activity in localized regions, but across the globe, increased CO2 is a big net negative. The increased global temperatures are creating larger regions of drought across the world. Although plants need CO2, they need other things too, such as nutrients, and um...water!

This is one of those myths that contains a bit of science, but doesn't look at the full picture. The full, global picture is a warming planet with increased regions of drought affecting millions of people.

Micro-gravity Environment?

I've covered the zero gravity misconception in the past on this blog. The misconception states that once you are above Earth's atmosphere you are weightless. You may feel zero-g, but there is still a force of gravity acting on you. Much to my surprise, my daily astronomy fact calendar gets this wrong.

This daily fact states that you are not weightless, which is correct. The problem is it states you are nearly weightless. Not true. It depends on your distance from Earth. The farther away you are, the lesser the gravitational force, and the more weightless you become. But it takes a greater distance than you may think to be nearly weightless. Take the Hubble Space Telescope, in orbit about 350 miles above the surface of Earth. I won't work through the math here, so you'll have to trust me a bit, but although it is true the force of gravity acting on you is less, it's still significant. The acceleration of gravity due to Earth at this altitude is about 3-4 times less than on the surface of Earth. That's quite a bit, but it also means you are far from weightless. A greater distance is needed to be considered nearly weightless. If you weigh 150 pounds on Earth, on the HST you'd weigh, based on Earth's gravitational force at this distance, closer to 40ish pounds.

The rest of the daily fact about falling to Earth, but missing Earth, is all true. I just don't like the 'weightless-well almost' part of it because that isn't really true.

The Twilight Zone

Yesterday I posted on a science misconception I discovered in an episode of the original The Twilight Zone series. If you've never seen The Twilight Zone, I highly encourage you to check out a few episodes, especially if you are a fan of science fiction. The Twilight Zone aired a total of approximately 150 episodes from 1958 to 1964. Thus far I've worked my way through three-fourths of the first season and find this a very enjoyable show!

If you need special effects to enjoy a show, The Twilight Zone is not for you. Given the airing dates, it should be obvious you won't find spectacular special effects by 2018 standards. What you will find is creative, original writing, with thought-provoking stories. It's a family friendly show and both of my kids enjoy watching with me. So check it out and recommend it to any science fiction lovers in your family.

655 Million Miles

I (and sometimes my kids) have been watching episodes of the original Twilight Zone TV series. The original series aired from 1958 to 1964. Until this year I had never seen an episode. At this point I'm nearing the end of season one and it is very good! The stories are original, imaginative, and contain a great deal of science fiction. But it's TV and TV shows come with many misconceptions. I recently watched an episode (episode 20 or 21 in season 1) in which a group of astronauts lands on another planet, out of fuel. They have no way of getting back and to convey how far away they are from Earth, they state the distance in miles. The astronauts are 655 million miles from Earth.

A distance of 655 millions miles seems like an incredible distance until you compare it to the distance from the Earth to the Sun. The Earth-Sun distance is already 93 million miles, so 655 million miles, although greater, is not that great. In fact, it is not very far at all when considering astronomical distances and space travel. This is only 7 astronomical units (7 AU) which puts it past Jupiter in the Solar System, but not Saturn. Granted, this is the late 1950s, but even then we knew the distance to planets, so 655 million miles was, even at that time, not a large distance.

Today, the farthest man made satellite is the Voyager 1 spacecraft, launched in 1977. Voyager 1 is now at a distance of 143 AU and growing. This equates to a distance of 13.3 billion miles. This seems like a great distance, but this isn't even out of the Solar System yet! The nearest star, Promixa Centauri, is 4.22 light years from us. That's 24.8 trillion miles! Yet it's the CLOSEST star. I get what the writers of this Twilight Zone episode were trying to do, but a few hundred million miles is close, not far. For a different planet in a different solar system, they needed a minimum distance of several tens of trillions of miles.

Despite this under representation of distance, the Twilight Zone is still a great show!

This Blog's History: Gulfoss Waterfall in Iceland

By now you are probably getting annoyed with all of my Iceland posts. I get it, but there are a few more to go. There is just so much and so many awesome things to see in Iceland. If I haven't made it clear, you should really go to Iceland! :-)

For This Friday in This Blog's History, I point you back to the post I wrote on the powerful waterfall known as Gulfoss. A hotspot for tourist activity, but well worth the visit.

Gulfoss Waterfall

NASA Product Advertisement

It made the news for about one 24 hour cycle last month, but there were several articles published talking about NASA looking into the use of product advertisement to offset the costs of specific programs.

NASA could sell advertising space on rockets

NASA is not making any changes right now and has no plans to advertise products at this time. This may change in the future, or it may not change. It's an interesting question to look into. On one hand, advertisements can certainly bring in money. Every sports stadium in the country uses advertising to increase revenues. On the other hand, advertising can case potential problems, particularly if the company being advertised takes a controversial stance.

My personal opinion is NASA should stick to current protocol and stay away from advertising. Although advertising brings in money, it won't bring in much money compared to typical US funding to various agencies. Without knowing the numbers, it's hard to say for sure, but I suspect advertising dollars are a drop in the bucket compared to total NASA funding. The small increase in revenue is not worth the potential headache, in my opinion.

I will say, however, that anyone who says advertising is definitely a positive with no negatives and anyone who says advertising is definitely a negative with no positives, is not being honest about looking at the issue from all angles. This is true for most issues. There is almost never a definite right or wrong answer. It's important that critical thinking be applied to any problem and unfortunately in this country at this time critical thinking is lacking.

Greatest Science Books of All-Time

Coming up with an all-time list of great science books is difficult and many great science books are bound to be left off the list. I shared a post on looking at the New York Times Bestsellers list for today's popular science books, but I wondered what were considered the greatest science books of all time. The first link that popped up in a search was a list of the greatest 25 science books of all time put together by Discover Magazine back in 2006.

25 Greatest Science Books of All Time

This is a heavy list of books that will dig you very deep into the material. These books are not for the light reader, but if you have a large interest in science, I'd urge you to throw one of these books into your reading every now and then. I'll admit I've read very few of the books on this list, but there are definitely some great books there. Books that have changed the thinking of society and vastly pushed science into the forefront of the non-science mind.

The first two books on this list are by Charles Darwin. That's some heavy reading! Darwin's research and publications drastically changed the thinking on the history of humans! And that's just the start to this list!

Astronomy Videos

Every now and then I like to mix things up in my astronomy class and show a short video focusing on a grand idea in astronomy. Sometimes these videos are short on content but large on introducing students to astronomy in a very exciting way. They are more geared to getting students interested in a possible career in astronomy. Ted Talks are often a great source for these types of videos. I ran across the following collection of astronomy related Ted Talks the other day and thought it would be a great idea to share them here.

Astronomy Ted Talks

You don't have to be a teacher to show these. Point your kids to these videos and watch their excitement in astronomy grow!

By ESO/H.H. Heyer - http://www.eso.org/public/images/potw1014a/, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=29385398

Climate Change Denial Myth #6: Scientists Don't Agree

The planet is warming and warming quickly, but despite the overwhelming evidence, there are many climate change denialists out there claiming this is not true and in some cases, that the opposite, Earth is cooling is true. One of their arguments to try to debunk climate change is that scientists don't agree the climate is changing. They find a scientist who says the climate is not changing and therefore, all scientists are wrong. What's the truth?

The truth is there is overwhelming consensus among climate scientists that the climate is changing and it is warming. Too often the denialists pull out someone with a Ph.D. but has no working experience in climate science. Among scientists working on climate, 97% agree the climate is warming.

Copyright beforetheflood.com

A large study was done to determine the agreement among scientists on this issue and the study makes it clear there is no debate among scientists. This level of consensus is about as large as you can get.

Quantifying the consensus on anthropogenic global warming in the scientific literature

The denialists will claim scientists have an agenda, but what that agenda is boggles my mind. The planet is warming and the economic damage being caused will harm the world's population for decades and centuries to come. There's no way to avoid the harm, only minimize it as much as possible by acting quickly.